NAME

Thread::Signal - Start a thread which runs signal handlers reliably

SYNOPSIS

use Thread::Signal;
$SIG{HUP} = \&some_handler;

DESCRIPTION

The Thread::Signal module starts up a special signal handler thread. All signals to the process are delivered to it and it runs the associated $SIG{FOO} handlers for them. Without this module, signals arriving at inopportune moments (such as when perl's internals are in the middle of updating critical structures) cause the perl code of the handler to be run unsafely which can cause memory corruption or worse.

BUGS

This module changes the semantics of signal handling slightly in that the signal handler is run separately from the main thread (and in parallel with it). This means that tricks such as calling die from a signal handler behave differently (and, in particular, can't be used to exit directly from a system call).